The Lectures on Faith used to be part of the Doctrines and Covenants, but a strange event in Eureka, Utah, may have helped give it the boot. On 17 April 1920, James E. Talmage took a train to Eureka to investigate alleged “separatists” that were trying to re-establish the United Order. The next day, he …
The feminist slogan, “the personal is political,” calls attention to the profound relationship between power structures and personal life. Personal problems are often rooted in political, economic, cultural, and religious systems. Section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants warns us that even divinely ordained power can be abused. This panel will look at power structures …
By D. Michael Quinn D. Michael Quinn is an independent scholar in Rancho Cucamonga, Southern California. His first ancestral Mormon mother, Lydia Bilyeu Workman, died in Nauvoo on 30 September 1845, just days after she was burned out of her farmhouse by mobs. Her five youngest children were aged six to eighteen. It is extremely …
The role of women, particularly in the areas of priesthood and leadership, has changed radically over the past four decades. Section 156 of Doctrine and Covenants, given in 1984, introduced ordination of women in the denomination. The panel will analyze these changes from two different approaches: 1) the institutional and historical contexts, with emphasis on …
Community of Christ’s triennial world conference, held in April, 2010, in Independence, Missouri, held the potential to throw the church into schism. Two mojor social issues, same-sex marriage and the nature of baptism, had the church’s membership polarized. President/Prophet Stephen M. Veazey brought to the conference a document which became section 164 of the Doctrine …
The idea of a War in Heaven is rooted in the biblical story of fallen angels (Genesis 6), a reinterpretation of Isaiah 12, and the apocalyptic writings of John (Revelation 12). Developed in the literature of post-biblical Judaism, the idea is more fully expanded in Christianity. Mormon scripture—the Book of Moses and the Doctrine and …
This is Sunstone’s perennially best-attended session. Hear speakers share the events and concepts that animate their religious lives: a little soul-baring, a little spiritual journey, a little intellectual testimony-bearing. This self-reflective night is about the things that matter most, plus spirited congregational hymn-singing. Eric Samuelsen is a playwright, a theatre director and historian, and a …
In April 1984, RLDS Church President Dr. Wallace B. Smith presented to the church’s World Conference a proposed revelation which, among other things, called for the church to begin ordaining women. The issue had been festering in the church for at least fifteen years and was very controversial. Approximately twenty percent of the delegates voted …
Violence in the Scriptures: Rene Girard and Mormonism An overview of Rene Girard’s mimetic theory of human culture will be presented with emphasis on an important corollary, the nonviolence of God. Several Biblical texts will be used to illustrate Girard’s theory. Then selected texts from the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of …
Mormons and the Iraq War Drawing on my firsthand experience from two trips to Iraq with the pacifist group, Christian Peacemaker Teams, and my background in LDS theology and scripture, I will argue against the common misperception among Latter-day Saints that the U.S. military is waging ‘a war of freedom’ to liberate Iraqis, that the …
